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This book analyses how the early Greek whole-Bible manuscripts (pandects) change and preserve the text. Dormandy refutes the method based on singular readings and so investigates all the ways in which each pandect differs from the initial text, both changes introduced by its own scribe and by the scribes of earlier manuscripts. He surveys sample chapters in John, Romans, Revelation, Sirach and Judges (including discussing the “new finds” of Sinaiticus). Dormandy’s observations of Codex Ephraemi challenge accepted transcriptions. Dormandy argues that Sinaiticus and Vaticanus may plausibly have been made in response to commissions by Constantine and Constans. Dormandy concludes that gene...
In Scribal Harmonization Cambry G. Pardee examines the earliest Greek manuscripts of the Synoptic Gospels for evidence that scribes altered the text of the Gospels—either deliberately or inadvertently—in ways that eliminated discrepancies between them. The phenomenon of harmonization demonstrates that a scribe’s memories of previous experiences with gospel traditions could have a powerful effect on the manuscripts that they produced. This book assembles for the first time a catalogue of harmonizing variants from every manuscript of Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the fourth century and earlier. Far from reducing the unique voices of the individual evangelists to a single melody, the earliest scribes contributed new tones, innovative strains, and fascinating harmonies to the four-fold gospel tradition.
Composed within the first Christian century by a Roman named Hermas, the Shepherd remains a mysterious and underestimated book to scholars and laypeople alike. Robert D. Heaton argues that early Christians mainly received the Shepherd positively and accepted it unproblematically alongside texts that would ultimately be canonized, requiring decisive actions to exclude it from the late-emerging collection of texts now known as the New Testament. Freshly evaluating the evidence for its popularity in patristic treatises, manuscript recoveries, and Christian material culture, Heaton propounds an interpretation of the Shepherd of Hermas as a book meant to guide his readers toward salvation. Ultima...
This study offers the first sustained examination of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM), a computerized method being used to edit the most widely-used editions of the Greek New Testament. Part one addresses the CBGM’s history and reception before providing a fresh statement of its principles and procedures. Parts two and three consider the method’s ability to recover the initial text and to delineate its history. A new portion of the global stemma is presented for the first time and important conclusions are drawn about the nature of the initial text, scribal habits, and the origins of the Byzantine text. A final chapter suggests improvements and highlights limitations. Overall, the CBGM is positively assessed but not without important criticisms and cautions.
This book provides a complete critical apparatus of all the parchment manuscripts of St. John's Gospel, including such important manuscripts as Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. It also contains transcriptions and plates of fragmentary and difficult-to-read copies.
The story of the woman taken in adultery features a dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over whether the adulteress should be stoned as the law commands. In response, Jesus famously states, “Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” To Cast the First Stone traces the history of this provocative story from its first appearance to its enduring presence today. Likely added to the Gospel of John in the third century, the passage is often held up by modern critics as an example of textual corruption by early Christian scribes and editors, yet a judgment of corruption obscures the warm embrace the story actually received. Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wass...
In The Language and Literature of the New Testament, a team of international scholars assembles to honour the academic career of New Testament scholar Stanley E. Porter. Over the years Porter has distinguished himself in a wide range of sub-disciplines within New Testament Studies. The contents of this book represent these diverse scholarly interests, ranging from canon and textual criticism to linguistics, other interpretive methodologies, Jesus and the Gospels, and Pauline studies.
Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture presents an overview of the digital turn in Ancient Jewish and Christian manuscripts visualisation, data mining and communication. Edited by David Hamidović, Claire Clivaz and Sarah Bowen Savant, it gathers together the contributions of seventeen scholars involved in Biblical, Early Jewish and Christian studies. The volume attests to the spreading of digital humanities in these fields and presents fundamental analysis of the rise of visual culture as well as specific test-cases concerning ancient manuscripts. Sophisticated visualisation tools, stylometric analysis, teaching and visual data, epigraphy and visualisation belong notably to the varied overview presented in the volume.
This volume examines the Byzantine manuscripts which transmit unique collections of Greek exegetical extracts on the Gospel of Luke. These codices singuli contain compilations which differ in content and sequence of scholia from all the other known catena types of this Gospel. The Clavis Patrum Graecorum volume on catenae, updated by Jacques Noret in 2018, briefly discusses these individual manuscripts in the codices singuli section (C137). The witnesses are: Vindobonensis theol. gr. 301 (C137.1); Monacensis graecus 208 (C137.2), Codex Zacynthius (C137.3); Vaticanus graecus 349 (C137.4), Palatinus graecus 273 (C137.5), and Laurentianus Conv. Soppr. 159 (C137.6). To these, Parpulov's 2021 cat...
In Numerals in Early Greek New Testament Manuscripts, Zachary J. Cole provides the first in-depth examination of the seemingly obscure, yet important topic: how early Christian scribes wrote numbers and why. While scholars have long been aware that Christian scribes occasionally used numerical abbreviations in their books, few have been able to make much sense of it. This detailed analysis of numerals in manuscripts up through the fifth century CE uncovers a wealth of palaeographical and codicological data. Among other findings, Zachary J. Cole shows that some numerals can function as “visual links” between witnesses, that numbers sometimes—though rarely—functioned like nomina sacra, and that Christians uniquely adapted their numbering system to suit the needs of public reading.